updated 04:48 pm EDT, Sat October 13, 2012

Hardware upgrade seems to match Galaxy Note II

A new version of the Samsung Galaxy S III has been announced in Japan. Appearing on Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo, the Galaxy S III Alpha is an improved version of the original, sporting hardware remarkably similar to that of the Galaxy Note II. A new color is also carried over from the Galaxy Note II, however the stylus does not.

The Galaxy S III Alpha runs on the same quad-core 1.6GHz 4412 Exynos chip and 2GB of RAM that the Galaxy Note II has, according toSammy Hub. This is higher than the international version of the Galaxy S III's 1GB of RAM and quad-core 1.4GHz processor. The handset will also have Android Jelly Bean installed out of the box, something that owners of the Galaxy S III are still waiting to receive as an update. In contrast to the dual-core US version, the Galaxy S III Alpha will have LTE connectivity, and will also borrow the Multi-View feature from the Galaxy Note II, for same-screen multitasking of applications.

The Alpha version of the Galaxy S III is set to go on sale in Japan in December, and will be available in Titanium Grey and Sapphire Black. Plans for a US release are currently unknown.